Posts Tagged ‘Bunions’

I received an email from a visitor who was asking about natural/home remedies for bunion pain. After doing some research online I have compiled a short list which may or may not help with your bunion pain.

Hi,

I’m wondering if you tried any home remedies for the bunion pain before opting for surgery? I really don’t want surgery just yet, and I’m wondering what would help my poor feet!

Thanks!
Liz

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I just got home from my second time at physiotherapy, and I’m in a lot of pain, but I have good news! My physiotherapist was able to give me a diagnosis of achilles tendonitis. It’s not good that I have it, at all, because it can be difficult to treat, but I am happy that I finally have a diagnosis and am not left wondering what is causing this horrible pain.

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My foot has been so sore since physio on Tuesday, but I’m just trying to remember that it’s a good hurt. The last couple of days I’ve had a lot of appointments and errands to run and my foot has been painful in the bone that was cut, but truthfully what’s more painful is my heels. I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with them, whether it’s plantar fasciitis or heel spurs or what, but I’m in so much pain every day even after walking for just five minutes and I’m incredibly frustrated.

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Tonight was the annual summer barbecue for the grocery store I work at. Because it’s summer and it’s been hot out, combined with the fact that I was getting a ride to and from there, and didn’t have to walk much at the barbecue, I tried wearing a normal shoe!

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Well it’s been six days since the pin was removed and my foot is slowly getting better each day. It certainly hurts a lot less! I am no longer on crutches which is awesome.

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Well the pin has been out for three days and my foot is feeling great! Okay, well, maybe not great, but much better than when I had the pin in. As soon as I got home from the pin removal I exfoliated my foot, because the skin was dry and rough and disgusting. That felt so good! It seems to be healing well although I am still covering up the incision and the pinhole when I have to walk somewhere. I have an Air Cast… but more about that later. Here are some photos of my foot just before and just after having the pin removed.

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I got my pin out yesterday! It was epically exciting! My foot feels sooo much better! And I took a video of it!

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I think I did too much walking yesterday. I’ve been so tired of being in the house and yesterday I really wanted pancakes. So Steve and I took two buses and went for breakfast, and the place we went was right across from the mall. After breakfast we went to the mall because I just wanted to look at a couple of things, but that ended up turning into me wanting to look at everything. The entire breakfast/mall journey was only about 3 hours in total, which may seem like a lot for the condition my foot is in; however, it is my good foot that is sore and not the one I had surgery on!

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So on Friday I had another dressing change by Dr. L. He said that my foot is healing nicely and that I may be able to get the pin out next Friday! So that would be August 14 instead of the original date of August 17. So, only three days difference but that’s an exciting three days for me because the pin is driving me nuts. It’s mostly the fact that the skin around the pin hurts like hell, and well, who enjoys having a metal foreign object sticking out of their skin (besides piercings, of course!)

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Finally after almost 3 weeks my stitches are OUT! I am very happy with that, even though my foot hurts a lot after getting them out. Dr. L is a good guy but he wasn’t very good at taking stitches out in my opinion; being a nursing student I have learned how to take stitches out and he did not do them the proper way. Also he didn’t really sterilize his equipment properly. When he took the stitches out, he was ripping at my skin so much, it hurt like hell. I was squeezing Steve’s hand so hard I put dents in it. I haven’t had anything that painful for a while. Don’t think stitches are supposed to hurt that much, but anyways.

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I recently got an email asking if I’d used any over-the-counter bunion products to help with the pain before considering surgery. I thought that other people might be interested in my response.

Hi there,

I found your website and started reading it because I have bunions too. I don’t think mine are as bad as yours, but I may consider surgery down the road. Did you try any non-surgical methods for pain relief before considering surgery, and if so where did you get them?

Thanks,
Samantha

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Tomorrow will have been one week since the surgery, and I’m going to get my dressing changed by Dr. L. As of right now I’m still in quite a bit of pain, but am tapering off of the Percocet. I am still getting random stabbing pains in my foot, although there is still a large portion of my big toe that I don’t have feeling back in yet. My friend is going to drive me to my appointment tomorrow, so I don’t need to taxi which is great.

I’ve had a pretty steady stream of visitors so far, and some of my best friends were over on Saturday night which was great. My friend Katelyn brought me some pretty flowers, and others have lent me movies and video games. They’ve also brought me yummy food, berries and chocolate and stuff. I still have very little appetite, but it’s slowly coming back as I take less Percocet.

Well I will update again after my dressing change tomorrow.

Wow, so I had my surgery on Monday around 2:00pm. It went well, but I’m in a lot of pain! The whole thing was a very strange experience. So here is the story, and some pictures.

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Even though I’ve been working a lot this week, I’ve been getting out a lot and trying to enjoy what little I have left of my summer before I’m unable to walk. Working so much is really hard though; I come home every day after being on my feet for 8 hours and they ache so badly I can hardly walk. Mostly from my left bunion, which is the one I’m getting operated on. But soon it will be gone, and hopefully that will reduce my pain.

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The type of surgery I’m having is called an Austin Bunionectomy, where basically they shave off the bone of the bunion, cut the tendons and the bone in my first metatarsal, realign the bone, and hold it in place with a long pin. There are not too many good websites that I can find describing it, but a lovely (not graphic) youtube video here: Austin Bunionectomy Demonstration.

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Okay, so here’s what’s going on. I am a 23 year old nursing student from Vancouver, Canada, and I have bunions. Bad bunions. And after years of pain and suffering, and lots of money spent on custom orthotics, shoe inserts, splints, cushions, etc., the time has come to get them fixed with surgery. Well… just one of them for now.

For those who don’t know, a bunion, or “hallux valgus”, is “an enlargement of bone or tissue around the joint at the base of the big toe (metatarsophalangeal joint). The big toe may turn in toward the second toe (angulation), and the tissues surrounding the joint may be swollen and tender. Today the term usually is used to refer to the pathological bump on the side of the great toe joint. The bump is the swollen bursal sac and/or an osseous (bony) deformity that has grown on the mesophalangeal joint (where the first metatarsal bone and hallux meet). ” That definition was taken from this Wikipedia article, which also explains more about formation, treatment, and why people have surgery done on them, which can be summed up in one word: pain!

In three weeks I am having surgery on my left bunion, and then after that, I get to spend the next 8+ weeks on my couch unable to walk. I’m going to be doped up on some awesome painkillers, while simultaneously learning several new hobbies such as knitting and making cute stuffed animals, as well as watching tons of movies and playing lots of games on my new Wii (but at the same time, will be temporarily saying goodbye to Wii Fit!).

But what could make all of this even more fun? Blogging about it, of course! So I welcome you to the Bunion Chronicles.

This is how my feet look now! Ouchies!